Location: Nationwide
Website: www.parkscore.org
ParkScore is the most comprehensive rating system ever developed to measure how well the 40 largest U.S. cities are meeting the need for parks.
Using an advanced GIS (Geographic Information System), ParkScore provides in-depth data to guide local park improvement efforts. Our mapping technology identifies which neighborhoods and demographics are underserved by parks and how many people are able to reach a park within a ten-minute walk.
Cities can earn a maximum ParkScore of 100. For easy comparison and at-a-glance assessment, each city is also given a rating of zero to five park benches.
Parks are important to communities. Close-to-home opportunities to exercise and experience nature are essential for our physical and mental well-being. Studies show that parks can encourage physical activity, reduce crime, revitalize local economies, and help bring neighborhoods together.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Thinkwalks
Location: San Francisco, CA
Website: www.thinkwalks.com
There was a time when Thinkwalks was nothing but tours and talks. Now we’re setting up a community education board on Divisadero and more projects are in the works!
November 2003: The first Water Walking Tour! (Vulcan Stairway)
Originally, Joel conducted tours mostly for visitors, but in late 2009, by popular demand, he retooled Thinkwalks as “Nerdy Tours for San Franciscans,” to great effect. There are so many people in SF with deep knowledge or curiosity about the city, and many newcomers who share that.
Since then, we’ve also welcomed travelers, newcomers and visitors. If you know the difference between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park, you’re San Franciscan enough for a Thinkwalk. Many of the people on these tours are deeply knowledgeable locals including scientists and curators, some of whom know the city amazingly well.
Joel, your guide, had been exploring and writing about the history of SF creeks and fresh water for years, and occasionally giving a public talk. He also helped create a number of public murals, the Wiggle bike route and various essential maps. You can find out more about him on the FAQ page.
Topics we explore and why
In general, we cover topics few others cover. Lots of people research (or spread myths) about the Gold Rush, Emperor Norton, The Barbary Coast and so on. But who else talks about how nature transformed into a city and how that unfolded?
Few guides research their own material from original source documents to find out how SF’s juicily-hidden neighborhoods got to be how they are now. At Thinkwalks, we tie an exploration of history, nature and art to the economic and population shifts, in the hope that the knowledge of the past empowers you to be a full participant in your world.
Sadly, many SF tour companies just spread rumors and silly myths!
San Francisco’s past is a quaint, colorful tale of eye-rolling stories and weird behaviors to be entertained by, right? Wrong. Hollywood would have it that way, and so would most local politicians. But the truth, when you dig it out of its commercially arranged grave, looks more like a parade of deeply concerned and idealistic innovators, trying things that help average people live more empowered and creative lives. Of course this causes trouble for the controlling economic interests, so they are elbowed out of “respectable” history and tucked behind the carefully sculpted stories of Emperor Norton (whose real story is that he was a creative capital speculator who went insane from being a loser in SF’s typical boom-bust economic games).
In a better world, those idealistic people are honored and studied as inspirational examples. At Thinkwalks, we like to hang out with creative people who feel the same.
We invite you to our tours to scrutinize the exhumed info with amazement—as a collaborative, deliberative effort! That’s right. That’s something very special to Thinkwalks: group discussions and evaluation of the evidence.
Yes, we love living in one of the most dynamic places in the world. Why would we want to dismiss it as a fairy tale?
Website: www.thinkwalks.com
There was a time when Thinkwalks was nothing but tours and talks. Now we’re setting up a community education board on Divisadero and more projects are in the works!
November 2003: The first Water Walking Tour! (Vulcan Stairway)
Originally, Joel conducted tours mostly for visitors, but in late 2009, by popular demand, he retooled Thinkwalks as “Nerdy Tours for San Franciscans,” to great effect. There are so many people in SF with deep knowledge or curiosity about the city, and many newcomers who share that.
Since then, we’ve also welcomed travelers, newcomers and visitors. If you know the difference between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park, you’re San Franciscan enough for a Thinkwalk. Many of the people on these tours are deeply knowledgeable locals including scientists and curators, some of whom know the city amazingly well.
Joel, your guide, had been exploring and writing about the history of SF creeks and fresh water for years, and occasionally giving a public talk. He also helped create a number of public murals, the Wiggle bike route and various essential maps. You can find out more about him on the FAQ page.
Topics we explore and why
In general, we cover topics few others cover. Lots of people research (or spread myths) about the Gold Rush, Emperor Norton, The Barbary Coast and so on. But who else talks about how nature transformed into a city and how that unfolded?
Few guides research their own material from original source documents to find out how SF’s juicily-hidden neighborhoods got to be how they are now. At Thinkwalks, we tie an exploration of history, nature and art to the economic and population shifts, in the hope that the knowledge of the past empowers you to be a full participant in your world.
Sadly, many SF tour companies just spread rumors and silly myths!
San Francisco’s past is a quaint, colorful tale of eye-rolling stories and weird behaviors to be entertained by, right? Wrong. Hollywood would have it that way, and so would most local politicians. But the truth, when you dig it out of its commercially arranged grave, looks more like a parade of deeply concerned and idealistic innovators, trying things that help average people live more empowered and creative lives. Of course this causes trouble for the controlling economic interests, so they are elbowed out of “respectable” history and tucked behind the carefully sculpted stories of Emperor Norton (whose real story is that he was a creative capital speculator who went insane from being a loser in SF’s typical boom-bust economic games).
In a better world, those idealistic people are honored and studied as inspirational examples. At Thinkwalks, we like to hang out with creative people who feel the same.
We invite you to our tours to scrutinize the exhumed info with amazement—as a collaborative, deliberative effort! That’s right. That’s something very special to Thinkwalks: group discussions and evaluation of the evidence.
Yes, we love living in one of the most dynamic places in the world. Why would we want to dismiss it as a fairy tale?
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
SEED
Location: Nationwide
Websie: www.seed-network.org
SEED maintains the belief that design can play a vital role in the most critical issues that face communities and individuals, in crisis and in every day challenges. To accomplish this, SEED provides tools—the SEED Network and SEED Certification—that guide design professionals toward community-based engagement with design practice. These tools support a public-interest methodology that is increasingly recognized as an effective way to sustain the health and longevity of a place or a community as it develops over time.
For designers and others looking for resources and a community of practice where like-minded people share an interest in the results of design and care about fundamental ideals of practice.
For designers, project developers, community leaders and others who desire a common standard to guide, measure, evaluate and certify the social, economic and environmental impact of design projects.
For those who want to learn more about SEED, read case studies of SEED Certified projects, search for projects based on issue or location, read recent press or support SEED.
Websie: www.seed-network.org
SEED maintains the belief that design can play a vital role in the most critical issues that face communities and individuals, in crisis and in every day challenges. To accomplish this, SEED provides tools—the SEED Network and SEED Certification—that guide design professionals toward community-based engagement with design practice. These tools support a public-interest methodology that is increasingly recognized as an effective way to sustain the health and longevity of a place or a community as it develops over time.
For designers and others looking for resources and a community of practice where like-minded people share an interest in the results of design and care about fundamental ideals of practice.
For designers, project developers, community leaders and others who desire a common standard to guide, measure, evaluate and certify the social, economic and environmental impact of design projects.
For those who want to learn more about SEED, read case studies of SEED Certified projects, search for projects based on issue or location, read recent press or support SEED.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Location: Nationwide
Website: www.tclf.org
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is the only not-for-profit (501c3) foundation in America dedicated to increasing the public's awareness and understanding of the importance and irreplaceable legacy of its cultural landscapes.
Through education, technical assistance, and outreach, we broaden awareness of and support for historic landscapes nationwide in hopes of saving this diverse and priceless heritage for future generations. While TCLF seeks donations to support its efforts, it is not a membership organization.
Founded in 1998 by Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, TCLF achieves its mission by
Collaborating with individuals and local, regional, and national groups to understand and protect our landscape heritage and to reach the broadest possible audience. For example, TCLF is one of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ “partners in education”;
Training professionals, students, teachers, and the general public to recognize, document and safeguard America's cultural landscapes;
Serving as the nation’s largest and most valuable non-profit source of information about our nation’s historic landscapes and those pioneering individuals who have contributed (through design, planning and advocacy) to this legacy;
Raising awareness of and support for individual landscapes-at-risk; and
Recognizing and celebrating the efforts of owners, supporters and stewards of significant American places.
TCLF’s overall success can be measured by the millions of people who have learned about cultural landscapes through its website, publications and events—as well as through the growing national awareness of the importance of America’s cultural landscapes and the increasing efforts to document and protect this heritage.
TCLF’s core efforts include:
Cultural Landscapes as Classrooms -
teaching people to "read" the landscapes that surround them, to understand how changes affect these special places, and to become better stewards of our significant cultural landscape heritage.
Stewardship Stories -
recognizing individuals who share our vision of "stewardship through education" by working to raise awareness of cultural landscapes in their community.
Landslide -
drawing immediate and lasting attention to threatened cultural landscapes, sparking debate and encouraging informed, community-based stewardship decisions.
Pioneers of American Landscape Design -
chronicling the lives and careers of those who have designed our gardens, parks, streets, campuses, cemeteries, suburbs, and the innumerable other environments in which we live.
What's Out There -
raising the public’s awareness of the rich diversity and interconnectedness of our shared designed landscape heritage by providing context about these sites through an easy-to-navigate, searchable database.
Website: www.tclf.org
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is the only not-for-profit (501c3) foundation in America dedicated to increasing the public's awareness and understanding of the importance and irreplaceable legacy of its cultural landscapes.
Through education, technical assistance, and outreach, we broaden awareness of and support for historic landscapes nationwide in hopes of saving this diverse and priceless heritage for future generations. While TCLF seeks donations to support its efforts, it is not a membership organization.
Founded in 1998 by Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, TCLF achieves its mission by
Collaborating with individuals and local, regional, and national groups to understand and protect our landscape heritage and to reach the broadest possible audience. For example, TCLF is one of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ “partners in education”;
Training professionals, students, teachers, and the general public to recognize, document and safeguard America's cultural landscapes;
Serving as the nation’s largest and most valuable non-profit source of information about our nation’s historic landscapes and those pioneering individuals who have contributed (through design, planning and advocacy) to this legacy;
Raising awareness of and support for individual landscapes-at-risk; and
Recognizing and celebrating the efforts of owners, supporters and stewards of significant American places.
TCLF’s overall success can be measured by the millions of people who have learned about cultural landscapes through its website, publications and events—as well as through the growing national awareness of the importance of America’s cultural landscapes and the increasing efforts to document and protect this heritage.
TCLF’s core efforts include:
Cultural Landscapes as Classrooms -
teaching people to "read" the landscapes that surround them, to understand how changes affect these special places, and to become better stewards of our significant cultural landscape heritage.
Stewardship Stories -
recognizing individuals who share our vision of "stewardship through education" by working to raise awareness of cultural landscapes in their community.
Landslide -
drawing immediate and lasting attention to threatened cultural landscapes, sparking debate and encouraging informed, community-based stewardship decisions.
Pioneers of American Landscape Design -
chronicling the lives and careers of those who have designed our gardens, parks, streets, campuses, cemeteries, suburbs, and the innumerable other environments in which we live.
What's Out There -
raising the public’s awareness of the rich diversity and interconnectedness of our shared designed landscape heritage by providing context about these sites through an easy-to-navigate, searchable database.
SF City Guides
Location: San Francisco, CA
Website: www.sfcityguides.org
Do I need to make a reservation?
No. Just show up at the time and place indicated on the schedule. (NOTE: We ask groups of 8 or more to schedule a special tour several weeks in advance.)
How do I recognize the guide?
Your guide will be wearing a badge that displays the City Guides logo. If you don’t see the badge, just look for someone at the appointed place who seems ready to lead a tour.
What are the tours like?
Very fun and informative. We'll show you a combination of tried-and-true San Francisco landmarks and off-the-beaten-path sites.
What if it rains?
We walk rain or shine. We do have a few indoor tours: Palace Hotel, Fire Dept Museum, Coit Tower. But most of our tours are outdoors, and our policy is if guests are ready to walk, we lead the tour. We don’t have a snow policy, but the last major snowstorm in San Francisco was in the 1890s. So we’ll play that one by ear. (Note, however, that a very few tours take place where the terrain would raise safety issues or otherwise be particularly unsuited for walking in the rain. The individual tour descriptions will indicate, in such cases, that the tour will be cancelled in case of rain.)
What if the guide does not show up?
We would like to say that this just does not happen. However, guides can experience an emergency and not make it to the starting place. A no-show is a rare event.
Are tours strenuous?
Mostly no, although walking in San Francisco often involves hills. We try to indicate in the tour descriptions the somewhat strenuous tours. If you have mobility concerns, call the City Guides.
Can my (large) group join a City Guides tour?
City Guides does not allow groups of 8 or more to join our regularly scheduled walks. Large groups are a challenge and need to be pre-scheduled as private group tours.
Are pets allowed?
In consideration of the health, safety and comfort of our walkers, pets are not allowed on tours. Besides common fears and allergies, pets can cause distractions or safety hazards during a walking tour. Pets are prohibited by public law or private policy in some buildings included on tours. Licensed service animals are excepted.
Do you give tours on holidays?
City Guides runs a very limited schedule on these holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. Please check our website on those dates to view an accurate limited schedule of our tours.
What do tours cost?
Regularly scheduled City Guides tours are free, although donations are always welcome. We can arrange special tours (see below), which do have a fee.
How do I arrange for a private group tour?
Private tours are available for groups or organizations for a suggested donation of $12 per person. Groups of 8 or more need to make arrangements in advance. A discounted rate of $10 per person applies for senior groups. Click here for more.
Tours for school groups (grades 4-12) are $5 per person.
Are donations accepted on regular tours?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Running an organization like this costs money even though the tours are given by volunteer guides. You can make a donation when you take a tour or you can become a sponsor (or both).
Who runs City Guides?
City Guides is a non-profit, primarily volunteer operation. Officially, we are a partner of the San Francisco Parks Alliance. There are more than 200 active guides. The guides annually elect, from among themselves, a management board. We have one full-time program director who runs the office.
What is your relationship to the San Francisco library?
City Guides has always had a special relationship with the San Francisco library. We got our start more than 30 years ago when a San Francisco mayor asked the city librarian to find volunteers to give tours in City Hall. In our early years, we were funded as a project of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. While no longer connected to the Friends, we still receive sponsorship from the library. City Guides provides fun yet educational services that are a logical extension of a free public library, which is the reason we continue to provide tours to the public without charge.
Where do you get your funding?
The majority of our funding comes from the voluntary donations made by those who take our tours and from individual sponsorships. We also receive modest grants from Grants for the Arts of the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund and other organizations.
How can I become a City Guide?
We periodically hold a six-month course for new guides at an enrollment cost of $200. You’ll attend a series of Saturday talks by authorities on San Francisco history and receive coaching on tour presentation.
Website: www.sfcityguides.org
Do I need to make a reservation?
No. Just show up at the time and place indicated on the schedule. (NOTE: We ask groups of 8 or more to schedule a special tour several weeks in advance.)
How do I recognize the guide?
Your guide will be wearing a badge that displays the City Guides logo. If you don’t see the badge, just look for someone at the appointed place who seems ready to lead a tour.
What are the tours like?
Very fun and informative. We'll show you a combination of tried-and-true San Francisco landmarks and off-the-beaten-path sites.
What if it rains?
We walk rain or shine. We do have a few indoor tours: Palace Hotel, Fire Dept Museum, Coit Tower. But most of our tours are outdoors, and our policy is if guests are ready to walk, we lead the tour. We don’t have a snow policy, but the last major snowstorm in San Francisco was in the 1890s. So we’ll play that one by ear. (Note, however, that a very few tours take place where the terrain would raise safety issues or otherwise be particularly unsuited for walking in the rain. The individual tour descriptions will indicate, in such cases, that the tour will be cancelled in case of rain.)
What if the guide does not show up?
We would like to say that this just does not happen. However, guides can experience an emergency and not make it to the starting place. A no-show is a rare event.
Are tours strenuous?
Mostly no, although walking in San Francisco often involves hills. We try to indicate in the tour descriptions the somewhat strenuous tours. If you have mobility concerns, call the City Guides.
Can my (large) group join a City Guides tour?
City Guides does not allow groups of 8 or more to join our regularly scheduled walks. Large groups are a challenge and need to be pre-scheduled as private group tours.
Are pets allowed?
In consideration of the health, safety and comfort of our walkers, pets are not allowed on tours. Besides common fears and allergies, pets can cause distractions or safety hazards during a walking tour. Pets are prohibited by public law or private policy in some buildings included on tours. Licensed service animals are excepted.
Do you give tours on holidays?
City Guides runs a very limited schedule on these holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. Please check our website on those dates to view an accurate limited schedule of our tours.
What do tours cost?
Regularly scheduled City Guides tours are free, although donations are always welcome. We can arrange special tours (see below), which do have a fee.
How do I arrange for a private group tour?
Private tours are available for groups or organizations for a suggested donation of $12 per person. Groups of 8 or more need to make arrangements in advance. A discounted rate of $10 per person applies for senior groups. Click here for more.
Tours for school groups (grades 4-12) are $5 per person.
Are donations accepted on regular tours?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Running an organization like this costs money even though the tours are given by volunteer guides. You can make a donation when you take a tour or you can become a sponsor (or both).
Who runs City Guides?
City Guides is a non-profit, primarily volunteer operation. Officially, we are a partner of the San Francisco Parks Alliance. There are more than 200 active guides. The guides annually elect, from among themselves, a management board. We have one full-time program director who runs the office.
What is your relationship to the San Francisco library?
City Guides has always had a special relationship with the San Francisco library. We got our start more than 30 years ago when a San Francisco mayor asked the city librarian to find volunteers to give tours in City Hall. In our early years, we were funded as a project of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. While no longer connected to the Friends, we still receive sponsorship from the library. City Guides provides fun yet educational services that are a logical extension of a free public library, which is the reason we continue to provide tours to the public without charge.
Where do you get your funding?
The majority of our funding comes from the voluntary donations made by those who take our tours and from individual sponsorships. We also receive modest grants from Grants for the Arts of the San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund and other organizations.
How can I become a City Guide?
We periodically hold a six-month course for new guides at an enrollment cost of $200. You’ll attend a series of Saturday talks by authorities on San Francisco history and receive coaching on tour presentation.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Liveable City
Location: San Francisco, CA
Website: www.liveablecity.org
Mission -
To create a balanced transportation system and promote complementary land use that supports a safer, healthier and more accessible San Francisco for everyone.
Goals -
Promote policies which shift travel from automobiles to more appropriate means.
Safety, livability, and economic vitality in a growing city are dependent on a reduction in our dependence on the automobile. To accomplish this goal, Livable City will promote the alternatives to the public, work with public agencies at their request to improve the provision of alternatives, and assist the various alternative transportation advocacy groups.
Improve the pedestrian environment...
Livable cities are built for walking, with bicycling and public transit as complementary modes. Livable City is working to integrate pedestrian improvements into neighborhood plans and street and corridor projects, advocate for completion of pedestrian projects citywide, support revitalization of the City's plazas and public open spaces, and support the efforts of neighborhood groups to improve the walkability of their neighborhoods through technical support and advocacy.
Livable City works with other pedestrian advocacy groups, including Walk San Francisco and Senior Action Network, to advocate for better planning, design, traffic management, education, and enforcement to improve pedestrian safety and promote walking in San Francisco.
Improve conditions for bicycling...
Support the Bicycle Coalition's charitable and educational efforts to promote the bicycle for everyday transportation. Livable City's goals include creating a bold and thorough bicylce plan for the city that will facilitate an increase in the percentage of trips made by bicycle from 3-5% today to 10% by 2015.
Improve public transit...
Muni will need continued public support to secure needed funding for operations, maintenance, and capital improvements and to establish transit priority in important corridors. Livable City worked to secure funding for Muni improvements in Propostion K, San Francisco's successful transportation sales tax, and is working to implement a citywide network of rapid transit and transit-priority routes that will improve Muni's speed and reliability, lower its operating costs, and attract new riders. Livable City also supports upgrading Caltrain to rapid transit-type service and extending it to the Transbay Terminal, and improving the accessibility and connectivity of the BART system.
Build an effective coalition for broad-based transportation reform.
Projects include our organization of a sustainable transportation summit, our participation in the Housing Action Coalition, greater participation by Livable City in the regional coalitions that already exist, and a new project to gain consensus support for the construction of significant amounts of affordable housing in walking-, biking-, and transit-accessible locations.
Integrate ecological design into the transportation system...
Transportation has an enormous impact on the local and global environment. 27% of the energy generated in the US goes to transportation, and transportation accounts for two-thirds of the petroleum consumed in the US. The waste and inefficiency built in to our automobile-based transportation system also threatens to consume greater and greater amounts of government and private resources; parking expert Donald Shoup estimates that the amount of money spent in the US each year subsidizing parking alone is equal to the amount spent on Medicare or national defense.
Livable City is dedicated to lessening the impact of transportation on the environment by encouraging human-powered transportation (walking and bicycling), discouraging automobile use, promoting compact and mixed-use development that minimizes the distance and cost of transport, and greening public transport by encouraging electrification of diesel bus and rail lines and improving the energy and resource efficiency of lighting, buildings, and vehicles. Livable City also supports integrating more "green infrastructure"—street trees, landscaping, permeable paving, parks and squares, "green streets", greenways, and greenbelts—into the city's transportation system.
Create a long-term, comprehensive traffic-calming plan for the City...
Livable City has worked over the past few years to change city standards and policies to include greater emphasis on pedestrian accessibility and safety in street design. We are working to make the city's upcoming streetscape master plan an opportunity to institute traffic calming measures on a citywide scale, as well as create detailed neighborhood-scale transportation and streetscape plans.
Website: www.liveablecity.org
Mission -
To create a balanced transportation system and promote complementary land use that supports a safer, healthier and more accessible San Francisco for everyone.
Goals -
Promote policies which shift travel from automobiles to more appropriate means.
Safety, livability, and economic vitality in a growing city are dependent on a reduction in our dependence on the automobile. To accomplish this goal, Livable City will promote the alternatives to the public, work with public agencies at their request to improve the provision of alternatives, and assist the various alternative transportation advocacy groups.
Improve the pedestrian environment...
Livable cities are built for walking, with bicycling and public transit as complementary modes. Livable City is working to integrate pedestrian improvements into neighborhood plans and street and corridor projects, advocate for completion of pedestrian projects citywide, support revitalization of the City's plazas and public open spaces, and support the efforts of neighborhood groups to improve the walkability of their neighborhoods through technical support and advocacy.
Livable City works with other pedestrian advocacy groups, including Walk San Francisco and Senior Action Network, to advocate for better planning, design, traffic management, education, and enforcement to improve pedestrian safety and promote walking in San Francisco.
Improve conditions for bicycling...
Support the Bicycle Coalition's charitable and educational efforts to promote the bicycle for everyday transportation. Livable City's goals include creating a bold and thorough bicylce plan for the city that will facilitate an increase in the percentage of trips made by bicycle from 3-5% today to 10% by 2015.
Improve public transit...
Muni will need continued public support to secure needed funding for operations, maintenance, and capital improvements and to establish transit priority in important corridors. Livable City worked to secure funding for Muni improvements in Propostion K, San Francisco's successful transportation sales tax, and is working to implement a citywide network of rapid transit and transit-priority routes that will improve Muni's speed and reliability, lower its operating costs, and attract new riders. Livable City also supports upgrading Caltrain to rapid transit-type service and extending it to the Transbay Terminal, and improving the accessibility and connectivity of the BART system.
Build an effective coalition for broad-based transportation reform.
Projects include our organization of a sustainable transportation summit, our participation in the Housing Action Coalition, greater participation by Livable City in the regional coalitions that already exist, and a new project to gain consensus support for the construction of significant amounts of affordable housing in walking-, biking-, and transit-accessible locations.
Integrate ecological design into the transportation system...
Transportation has an enormous impact on the local and global environment. 27% of the energy generated in the US goes to transportation, and transportation accounts for two-thirds of the petroleum consumed in the US. The waste and inefficiency built in to our automobile-based transportation system also threatens to consume greater and greater amounts of government and private resources; parking expert Donald Shoup estimates that the amount of money spent in the US each year subsidizing parking alone is equal to the amount spent on Medicare or national defense.
Livable City is dedicated to lessening the impact of transportation on the environment by encouraging human-powered transportation (walking and bicycling), discouraging automobile use, promoting compact and mixed-use development that minimizes the distance and cost of transport, and greening public transport by encouraging electrification of diesel bus and rail lines and improving the energy and resource efficiency of lighting, buildings, and vehicles. Livable City also supports integrating more "green infrastructure"—street trees, landscaping, permeable paving, parks and squares, "green streets", greenways, and greenbelts—into the city's transportation system.
Create a long-term, comprehensive traffic-calming plan for the City...
Livable City has worked over the past few years to change city standards and policies to include greater emphasis on pedestrian accessibility and safety in street design. We are working to make the city's upcoming streetscape master plan an opportunity to institute traffic calming measures on a citywide scale, as well as create detailed neighborhood-scale transportation and streetscape plans.
Built Environment Forum Scotland
Location: Scotland
Website: www.befs.org.uk
The Built Environment Forum Scotland (BEFS) is the strategic intermediary body for Scotland’s built environment sector, bringing together voluntary and professional non-governmental organisations that operate at the national level.
As an umbrella organisation, BEFS informs, mediates and advocates on strategic issues and policies affecting the built environment, historic and contemporary. Adopting a holistic approach, our aim is to put people at the heart of places that are both valued and of the highest possible quality.
Through its membership, working groups and workshops, BEFS provides a forum for debate and discussion on matters relating to the built environment. Issues are discussed and views presented to key decision makers in national and local government.
Strategic Objectives:
COLLECTIVE EXPERTISE – to be recognised as the organisation that offers collective informed independent opinion on issues affecting the historic and contemporary built environment.
COMMUNICATION – to communicate information, opinion and good practice about the historic and built environment effectively with members, their constituents and across the sector.
MEMBERSHIP SUPPORT – to support member organisations to build their capacity and operate more strategically and efficiently.
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT – to develop a viable organisation by ensuring there is a responsive structure with appropriate skills and resources to deliver the outputs required to realise the vision.
OUTREACH – to work with members to develop and promote better understanding of how the historic and built environment contributes to public benefit.
Website: www.befs.org.uk
The Built Environment Forum Scotland (BEFS) is the strategic intermediary body for Scotland’s built environment sector, bringing together voluntary and professional non-governmental organisations that operate at the national level.
As an umbrella organisation, BEFS informs, mediates and advocates on strategic issues and policies affecting the built environment, historic and contemporary. Adopting a holistic approach, our aim is to put people at the heart of places that are both valued and of the highest possible quality.
Through its membership, working groups and workshops, BEFS provides a forum for debate and discussion on matters relating to the built environment. Issues are discussed and views presented to key decision makers in national and local government.
Strategic Objectives:
COLLECTIVE EXPERTISE – to be recognised as the organisation that offers collective informed independent opinion on issues affecting the historic and contemporary built environment.
COMMUNICATION – to communicate information, opinion and good practice about the historic and built environment effectively with members, their constituents and across the sector.
MEMBERSHIP SUPPORT – to support member organisations to build their capacity and operate more strategically and efficiently.
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT – to develop a viable organisation by ensuring there is a responsive structure with appropriate skills and resources to deliver the outputs required to realise the vision.
OUTREACH – to work with members to develop and promote better understanding of how the historic and built environment contributes to public benefit.
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